Are The Packers America's Team?

Green Bay Fights Dallas For Most Popular In Nfl

A little slice of Americana is tucked in the northern outpost of Green Bay. Unless you're a fan of the rival Chicago Bears, it's hard to root against the Packers.

They are throwbacks to when football was played with leather helmets and bloody noses.

The stadium is still without a corporate sponsor. The grass is real. The fans still show up five hours before game time, even when it's so cold that every breath is punctuated by a little cloud.

So why are the Dallas Cowboys called America's Team?

``The Cowboys have laid claim to America's Team,'' said Brian McCarthy, the NFL's senior corporate communications manager. ``However, if you step back a second and look at it, Green Bay is almost America's Dream.

``In Green Bay, you have a group of hard-working players in a hard-working town who are able to galvanize an entire region into pulling together for one common goal, and that's for the Super Bowl. There's a lot of history and a lot of tradition up there.''

In 1997, after eight consecutive losses to the Cowboys, the Packers finally beat Dallas. Now they are challenging the Cowboys for the title of America's Team. The Packers can match the Cowboys in merchandising sales, television ratings and fan support.

``I'd like to think we're as popular a sports team as any in this country and in the world,'' Packers quarterback Brett Favre said. ``I can't answer whether we're bigger than Dallas, but I think we're as big as any team in professional sports.''

Proof is in the polls.

The Packers were first in NFL merchandising sales in 1997-98 before the Cowboys inched back ahead this year.

In an ESPN Chilton Sports Poll released this summer, the Chicago Bulls were the nation's favorite sports team. The Cowboys were second and the Packers third. Favre ranked second to John Elway as the nation's favorite NFL player, and Elway and Favre were just behind Michael Jordan and Mark McGwire on the list of favorite pro athletes.

``It gives you a pretty good indication that the Packers are still among the elite teams in the NFL and in all of sports as well,'' McCarthy said.

The Cowboys have backing from Nike and a bankroll from their luxury boxes. But with an arrest record to match their winning record this decade, the Cowboys have the undisputed title of America's Most Wanted Team.

The Packers have the Lombardi Trophy, the Lambeau Leap and nonprofit football.

``Favre epitomizes what this game is all about, and the whole Green Bay/Lambeau Field thing, that's what football is about,'' Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Chidi Ahanotu said. ``There's so much tradition. When you go up there, you better play your best game to pay your respects to this game.

``The problems Dallas has had - all those scars and marks on their record - that's helped a little bit to take away from the Cowboys as America's Team.''

Last week, billionaire Bob McNair bought an NFL expansion team for Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, for $700 million.

Green Bay is a town of 96,466 that eats, sleeps and idolizes the Packers. They also have a stake in their team.

The Packers are owned by 111,031 shareholders. Based on a bylaw in the corporation's charter, if the team ever is sold, all profits would go to the Sullivan-Wallen American Legion Post.

``How does a little town compete against these $700 million teams out on the field?'' said Max McGee, who played for the Packers in 1954 and from 1957-67 before spending another 20 years on the team's radio broadcast team. ``They've been here so long and they're still here, but I don't know how they can last.''

Facing financial failure in 1950, the Packers offered stock for $25 a share. The team raised $50,000 in an 11-day period.

Mike Blindauer's father, Howie, was just starting his sheet metal and roofing business in Green Bay that year. But he bought a share, which today is framed in his son's office.

``It meant a lot to him to be able to try to keep the Packers here,'' Mike Blindauer said. ``It was definitely hard for him to dig in his sock and come out with the money for the team, but he did it.''

Green Bay is the lone same-city survivor of a league now run by corporate America. Since playing their first game in 1919, the Packers have won a record 11 championships.

Welcome to Titletown USA.

The entire town is a tribute to the Packers. There is Lombardi Middle School, Titletown Brewing Company, Packer City Motel and Fuzzy Thurston's Shenanigan's bar.

``It is definitely a small town. Everything is on the smaller scale,'' Packers defensive tackle Santana Dotson said. ``There are not as many restaurants as you would like. There are not as many hot spots or night spots for the younger guys. There's not a lot of trouble to get into. But then on Sunday, there's not a better place to play in the NFL. This community has sincerely loved their team. As soon as you put that green-and-gold helmet on, they feel like you're a part of the family.''